After plaints over infra, BMC proposes guidelines for design

The School Infrastructural Cell (SIC) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been criticised for allowing poor infrastructure and design in the city’s

The School Infrastructural Cell (SIC) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been criticised for allowing poor infrastructure and design in the city’s municipal schools. On Tuesday, members of the municipal education committee proposed standard guidelines for the functioning of the SIC.

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Many members complained about the poor working of the SIC which maintains municipal school buildings. “There is no logic to the way in which the SIC is functioning. Recently, at the Woolen Mill Municipal School in Matunga where I visited, paver blocks were being laid on the school playground. Once completed, this would be a disaster as children would get hurt if they fall on this,” said Sainath Durge, committee member.

Responding to this, the deputy chief engineer for SIC Atul Kulkarni said, “ We will get the paver blocks removed if the members feel it is inappropriate. Some schools already have them from the beginning but we will remove them if needed.”

Sheetal Mhatre, another member said that in many schools across the city, repairs remain pending for a long time keeping students in a lurch. “At the Kandarpada municipal school in Dahisar, tin sheets fixed on the roof were damaged and had to be replaced. It took six months for SIC to fix the issue. Until then, students were forced to sit in the sun,” she added. Members said that the SIC should thus list out some standard procedures which will be followed for all schools across the city.

“All classrooms across civic schools need to look the same as they should be set as per common guidelines. Why does it take so long to do some basic things like painting school buildings before every academic year begins?” asked a member.

“The SIC does a very shoddy job. A school had once asked for a small hall where they could hold events. When they were given a room which had more than 20 pillars obstructing the view of the stage,” added another member.